Birthday Blues
by PomKat
Summary: Robert Goren was destined to spend another birthday alone. Oneshot. BA, slightly fluffy.


-1Disclaimer: 'Law and Order: Criminal Intent' and all its characters belong to Dick Wolf. Not me. : (

A/N: A oneshot to show you guys how sorry I am that I haven't updated any of my other stories. Speaking of my other stories, to hurry up the process of getting new chapters up, do you guys have any ideas for them pertaining to what will happen next? Any and all ideas would be great. Thanks. : )

Anyways, about this story; the other day, I was watching LaO:CI and the episode where Bobby first met Nicole came on. In that episode, it listed Bobby's birthday so I was like, "Omg, birthday fic!" and this is what sprung from that.

And just to let you know, because you guys love it, I added a teeny bit of fluff at the end.

Enjoy!

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_Birthday Blues_

August 20th.

Robert Goren was destined to spend another birthday alone.

As he stirred the chicken noodle soup in front of him, while sitting in his tiny apartment, Bobby thought of what he could have done to deserve such a miserable birthday. He had the day off from work, something that rarely happened, and had yet to go out. The setting August sun poured through the dusty window behind him as he rose to pour the half-eaten soup in the garbage.

Alex hadn't called him yet to wish him a Happy Birthday as she had done every year. _Maybe she forgot? _he asked himself, then sighed and trudged into the living room.

He had already gone over all of the current cases he and his partner had open at the moment. Everything there was to be thought of was thought, everything there was that needed to be written down was written down. And after all that was finished, Bobby's day was free to do whatever he wanted.

And he wanted to mope.

Pulling the remote out from the cushions of his couch, Bobby flipped on the television and began to surf the channels. He stopped on an episode of _Cops_ and tried to remember what it was like when he was a wet-behind-the-ears uniform. The memories surfaced, but didn't stay long as three sharp knocks on the door had him rolling his eyes and getting to his feet.

Bobby pulled open the door quickly and answered with an angry, "Yeah?"

Alex stood there, staring up at him through a scowl. She wore a simply pair of blue jeans and a pale pink blouse. In her hands was a medium size square box and dangling from her arm was a small grocery bag. "Great way to greet someone," she said and invited herself in.

"Oh, sorry, Eames," Bobby muttered and shut the door behind her.

He followed her into the kitchen where she sat the items on the table and turned to him, flipping a lock of her streaky blonde hair behind her ear. "Okay, here's the plan. We can either, A: Eat this cake I tried to make and get all drunk and stupid or B: Go out somewhere, eat good cake someone else besides me made, and still get all drunk and stupid."

Bobby blinked at her, then laughed. "I'll take a chance with your cake."

"Okay then, but don't blame me if you break out with some odd rash that turns your body green," she replied with that playful smile he loved so much lingering on her lips.

---

They ended up going out.

The cake, which tasted like a foamy sponge, had been tossed into the garbage after the first bite and the two had thrown on their jackets to hit the streets. They walked a few blocks up from Bobby's apartment to one of his favorite little Italian places. The laughed over the meal, hardly touching their plates at all. Afterwards, as Alex had suggested, they traveled a few more streets up to a small Irish pub known as McDougal's.

Alex gave the door a few knocks, causing Bobby to stare at her, confused. "You don't have to knock, Eames. Just go right in," he told her, wondering if she had a few too many drinks of wine at the restaurant.

She only pursed her lips at him and pushed open the door.

Darkness engulfed the two immediately and it took Bobby's eyes a few moments to adjust. By that time, it was already too late, and the lights flicked on.

"Surprise!" a chorus of voices rang out as people popped out from behind counters, tables, and chairs. Being a cop, Bobby's first instinct when a blast of noise like what he had just heard assaulted his ears was to reach for his gun, which wasn't there. After a glance down at Alex, who was beaming up at him and clapping with the others, he smiled, finally realizing what was going on.

The cheers settled down as Bobby stared around. There were cops and old friends scattered around, sending him laughing exclamations of "Happy Birthday, Goren!" and "The big 46, eh, Bobby?"

With a grin, Bobby shook the hands and hugged the bodies of people who offered them. He accepted the Glenlivet that was given to him and spent an hour sipping on that and chatting with his colleges and pals. After a while, he settled down at the table Alex occupied and asked, "You did this all yourself?"

"Not all by myself. Megan helped me call and invite everyone and Mike got his friend to let us use this place for the night," she replied, referring to the other team of detectives the two sometimes worked with. She then smiled and searched his eyes for praise. "Were you surprised?"

"Totally surprised." He grinned, reached over to give her a hug, and in return, she wrapped her arms around him.

Then, he surprised her as she had him. As he pulled back, Bobby craned his head down to give her a quick kiss on the cheek. Before she could react to this, a group of detectives came over to swoop Bobby away to watch a drinking contest that Mike Logan was currently winning. Alex blinked, then smiled and shook her head.

"Happy Birthday, Bobby," she whispered and raised her vodka martini in the air to toast to him.

_Fin._


End file.
